Listen to the Whispers
by ExperimentalSubject
Summary: In which Riley's particular situation sends him into a fight with sleep and Steven cannot help but try and protect him. Steelfedorashipping (eventually it'll be more obvious, I promise. Slow build steelfedoras).
1. In Which Denial Is A Valid Strategy

oh man oh man let's do this kids. The great Listen To The Whispers rewrite of 2k14. should have 3 chapters up tonight. i hop you all approve of my redos. concrit's absolutely accepted, especially on characterization.

also, please imagine riley with cute painted fingernails. that is like my favourite riley appearance headcanon of all time, its from some artist on pixiv and it just makes me happy. theyre painted turquoise.

okay, enough of my rambling, on with the show

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><p>Riley hasn't been sleeping well. For the past couple of weeks, he's been having incessant nightmares. They hardly started off as bad, just the occasional dream that left a bad taste in his mouth when he awoke, but it steadily progressed, leaving him tired and in poor moods in mornings. It's come to the point where his pokemon have noticed, Lucario especially. She frets over him endlessly, communicates his aura is off. The aura of the island is off. A black mold is eating at the edges.<p>

Lucario argues and tells him to go somewhere else, but Riley doesn't listen. He can't leave the island. It's his job to stay with it, to protect it. If something's wrong, he shouldn't run if he's not at risk of something serious.

And nightmares are hardly a risk. Just some sort of blip in normality that likely meant nothing. Just a coincidence.

When Lucario worries over him too much, the trainer puts her back in her pokeball, and she's figured out by now that he doesn't wish to speak about it. She'll still stand over him as he sleeps and threatens the shadows that dare try and approach her beloved trainer, though. Riley cannot stop her from doing that.

Riley's too busy sleeping.

He stands still, tapped in some large black void. It's not groundless, there is something beneath his feet that feels reminiscent of wet soil when he steps. He can see nothing except himself, and he is dressed in a suit. One he does not own, and he seems fit for a funeral aide from the bright red tie like the aftermath of a cut throat around his neck.

Riley takes a second to wonder where the morbid feeling came from. He does not generally think like that.

Something pressed him onward, and he steps through the void, turning when he feels he should, until he happens upon a room, simply hanging in the darkness. Riley steps over the threshold, where the final wall should be, and a full house blossoms around him. The house is, for the most part, bare. There's a rug and some chairs in this room, but they all seem plain and unused. Like they were temporarily borrowed for the sake of having something look normal. Sitting in one of the chairs in one of the most relaxed postures Riley has ever seen him, is Steven.

Hello, Mr. Stone. What are you doing here.

Riley opens his mouth to speak, and nothing comes out. He feels slightly ill, like he does when there's a crowd of people around him and he can't turn off the aura sensing. The only person here is Steven, and try as he might, Riley can sense nothing from Steven. It's like he's been cut off. The former Champion raises a hand and makes the quick gesture of a cut throat. "Really is such a shame."

Abruptly, Riley realizes that nothing has made noise until Steven opened his mouth. Not even footsteps. "But," Steven continues, after a short pause. He fiddles with one of his rings, though otherwise Steven seems entirely uncaring. "You'll have to go. Nothing I can do about it, it seems." He gestures again, this time shooing Riley away.

Entirely on instinct and in an act of desperation, Riley practically lunges forward, trying to grasp Steven's hand. _Please, help me. Hold onto me. Don't let me die_.

Riley's hands close on air, and this time as the void reopens beneath him, there is nothing. No ground, and the walls and ceiling of the house quickly fade to black until the only thing remaining is Steven, staring cooly at him from his chair as Riley plunges downward into void.

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><p>Riley does not wake quickly, like in movies. He wakes slowly, and in the time somewhere between sleep and when his eyes open, something that feels unspeakably old and unspeakably tired touches his closed eyes and whispers an apology in a language Riley does not understand.<p>

It didn't mean to do this.

It did not anticipate these effects.

It is so very sorry, child.

Riley wakes up.

He gets out of bed, careful not to disturb the Lucario and Rilou that have taken residence curled next to him. There's a red glow from the corner of his vision, and from some part of him still dreaming, he turns quickly, staring. _Something large, taller than him and it wants rest too. The red does not glow but something else does, lines of ice blue reflecting off of scarlet ridges-_

Riley shakes his head and realizes he's simply staring at the LED of his alarm clock.

The red numbers no longer stir memories of things he has never seen. They just tell the trainer that it is currently 6:48 A.M.. He stares until the number switches to 6:49. Riley doesn't feel as if he's slept at all. He's exhausted, but going back to sleep would put him at risk for once again waking up in a cold sweat with the feeling of fear and panic stuck to him like a cloak.

He can never recall the dreams in full, and this time he just gets the image of being stared at without compassion by someone he knows well but cannot remember. Just that's enough to keep a disconcerted feeling around him. Riley sighs, scrubbing at his eyes, and looks over at the pair of pokemon curled on his bed. The Riolu seems fine, but Lucario is curled around it protectively and her hackles are half-raised, as if something happened a few minutes ago that angered her. Riley reaches over, gently petting the Lucario. She seems to calm. At least one of their problems is easy to fix, and that makes Riley smile slightly.

He stands and sets off to the kitchen. May as well start the day.

* * *

><p>Lucario complains to him when she wakes later and finds her trainer sitting on a couch, still half dressed and staring blankly at a wall. <em>You're sick<em>, she argues, and Riley can hear her if he concentrates on reading the aura.

"I am not."

_You are. A sick that's in your sleep. You got infected. You need a break._

"Hush, that's nonsense." Riley yawns widely, jaw cracking behind the palm covering it. "All it is is the occasional nightmare. Nothing's wrong with me, and if there is- which I'm not agreeing to- I'll get over it. Doesn't one always get over a sickness?"

Lucario chuffs in displeasure and glares at him. _You know this is something you cannot get over so easily._

Riley stands and waves his hand dismissively. "You have no faith in me. Besides, I'm having a guest over in. Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. It's rude to cancel something that's been planned for ages just because some guy can't get his sleep schedule worked out, right?" He grins toothily at his Pokemon, having difficulty enough in making even a mildly convincing expression. She's not buying it, and she just shakes her head and abruptly shuts of her verbal communication with him.

Ah well.

Can't win every fight, now can he.

Riley doesn't let himself concentrate too hard on his Lucario's mothering, instead preferring to make himself busy turning the Iron Island cabin into some place that looks remotely presentable instead of a dusty pile of wood that some weird guy has been living in alone for years. That's a much easer course of action, and it keeps him busy until late in the night. He doesn't even notice when he crashes and falls asleep.

This time he is just falling. Falling and falling and falling and he can find nothing to catch himself on. He thinks he's crying.


	2. In Which Real Affairs Are Not Sorted Out

this signifies the replacement of the first two chapters. Aaand yeah nothing continues to happen they have not gone anywhere yet but they shall soon enough

steven already kinda wants to smooch riley on the face if that makes you feel any better

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><p>No one answers the door when Steven knocks, which is odd. Usually there's either a note taped to the small window on the door, or it's opened after maybe thirty seconds of waiting.<p>

Steven gives Riley a courtesy 60 seconds before knocking again. He does this twice before getting curious. Perhaps the usual note of 'feel free to come in and use anything needed, I will be back soon' that Riley leaves blew away or some Pokemon got to it? Hm.

He might as well attempt an experiment and just see if the door is locked. Luckily for Steven, it is not. Though he's hardly past the threshold when a Riolu launches itself around a corner, barking in a tone that Steven can't tell if it's alarm, anger, or panic. He should really get better at reading mammalian Pokemon.

Steven holds his hands up in surrender. "I. It's okay, really."

The Riolu stares him down for a few seconds, before turning abruptly and running back into the main room.

Steven assumes he's passed some sort of test. But certainly an odd one. He follows after the Pokemon, and the first thing he sees when he enters the room is Lucario, standing in front of the couch. Her ears are folded angrily, and she stands in a way where her entire body is pointed to the couch and presumably what's on it. All that's visible is an unruly mop of blue hair and a hand thrown over the armrest.

For a second, Steven think's Riley's done something like faint (or, argues the less practical half of his head, _die_) and he tries to pretend there is absolutely _no_ thrill of absolute panic running through him.

It only lasts half a second at the most before Lucario looks up at him and barks quietly. She steps out of the way, gesturing helplessly and shaking her head. Steven takes this as his cue to step up. He kneels in front of the couch, inspecting the man sleeping on it as if he was tossed there and then forgotten about.

Riley looks like he's ill, definitely. He's paler than usual, and obvious shadows lurk underneath his eyes. He's got an odd expression, too, one that edges just enough into distress and away from neutral that Steven finds himself concerned. Added to that, he's not wearing his usual jacket and his clothes are fairly messy, unusual for Riley's tendency to keep a neat appearance.

The Champion takes his hand away from fiddling with his rings to nudge Riley's shoulder. He does not wake, only curls further into himself and mutters quietly. Steven frowns. No, that's no good.

He tries again, shaking Riley more forcefully. Lucario barks at him from the corner, and Steven can't tell if that means he's supposed to stop or not. But he'd really rather not get bitten, so he stops and settles for nudging Riley's shoulder a final time.

Riley mutters again, and Steven replies with "Time to wake up, Riley."

Riley grumbles but, to his credit, cracks an eye open.

"Riley?"

The aura trainer's eyes are reddish at the edges, like he'd been crying. Steven cocks his head to the side. "Are you alright?

Riley's first reaction is to reach out, and he gets halfway toward grabbing Steven before he blinks himself further awake and drops his hand. "I..."

"Riley."

Riley ignores Steven, scrubbing at his eyes and sitting up with a smile. "Mnh. I'm sorry, I should have opened the door for you, but I didn't get to sleep until late last night and I just passed out here, it seems." He laughs lightly, but it sounds just slightly strained.

Steven straightens back up, arms crossed. "You look like you got smacked around by a Steelix, Riley, and your Pokemon were freaking out when I came in here. Who do you think you're fooling?"

Steven's apparent annoyance seems to get to Riley, and he deflates visibly. Riley pushes his hair out of his face, sighing. "Look, it's just. I haven't been sleeping well and you know Lucario. She thinks if someone sneezes they're going to die, and she probably just got too worried that I wasn't easy to wake when I _did _sleep. It's nothing to worry about, really."

Steven does not seem entirely convinced. "Are you sure? It's hardly safe to go adventuring around in caves if you're not feeling well."

"I'm fine! Really. It's just a one-time thing, you know how it is. Besides, it's a hassle for you to come all the way here from Hoenn, I'd hate to call off the reason you came just because my Lucario is worried about me." Riley abruptly stands off the couch, sidestepping Steven and padding lightly over to the half-walled-off kitchen. He realizes he's rambling, but doesn't really stop talking (mostly to himself) until Lucario comes over and nudges his hand. That's enough of a distractor, and Steven's still standing in the main room, staring with an indecipherable expression.

Steven sighs, and with a shake of his head, he tells himself to relax. Riley could be right, who knows. Maybe it is nothing to worry about (but the second of fear when he thought something was wrong refuses to leave him entirely).

Instead, he just allows Riley to make him dinner and they discuss how their lives have been going. It's easy, nothing to worry about for either of them.

Riley ensures that he doesn't fall asleep near Steven tonight. It would be counterintuitive to worry him any further.

The faint buzzing of Riley's alarm clock wakes Steven up from two rooms over before Riley so much as stirs. Riley hears the device, faintly, but it's hardly enough to rouse him. It just falls into the same dream he's in, the only thing he can find in his current isolation. A persistent beeping noise.

Steven gives Riley the time it takes to get himself dressed and halfway packed for the day before he walks over to see why the damn alarm is _still_ going off. It's rather irritating, there's no way anyone could sleep through that.

Theoretically.

Riley is officially the worst human being at locking doors, though it's not surprising considering he's generally alone on his island. It works out nicely for Steven, who knocks politely before letting himself in.

And Riley's still asleep. Of course. Steven shuts off the alarm with undue force, uncertain as to why the scenario puts him in such a foul mood. He inhales deeply. Best not to do anything rash _but this is bad and it means something is hurting his friend and he will not stand for this_- no. It's okay. Or, it will be. Steven sits heavily next to Riley, reaching over and shaking his upper arm.

"Rise and shine, I know you have to get up eventually."

Riley rolls away from him and grumbles.

"Riley, come on. I know you said you didn't sleep enough, but this is a tad excessive. Riley. Ri. Up." Steven continues in this vein until Riley interrupts him, a quiet mumble that's just barely intelligible.

"'S dark."

Steven freezes, hand still on Riley. "What?"

"Mnuh."

_Dark_. Weird. Steven gives up and lightly smacks Riley upside the head. "It won't be dark if you get up, it's almost 9." That actually seems to get a reaction, and Steven knows Riley's awake from the fact that he's trying to pull his arms up to escape Steven. Steven is having none of this, and promptly flops down, laying across Riley's torso. "I know you're in there." Riley mutters, sounding irritated, and swats vaguely at Steven.

"I'm not getting up until your eyes are open."

Apparently the answer to wake him is just to be as annoying as possible. Riley manages to roll onto his back, which Steven simply adjusts with. Riley does his best to sit up, squirming half away. Steven allows him room to breathe, sitting back up and moving to stand. "Well, since you've-"

Riley reaches over and grabs his wrist. "Wait."

He realizes what he's doing and cuts himself off abruptly, looking down. His fingers slowly release Steven and he drags his slightly shaky hand back to his side. "Sorry. Guess I was still kind of asleep." He laughs quietly, but this time does not even put effort into sincerity. It just sounds hollow.

Steven does not know what to do. Instead, he just stares, looking unusually sad, before hesitantly patting Riley's head. "Don't worry about it. I'll leave you to it then, eh?" With that, the champion exits and leaves Riley to the process of gathering his wits and good mood about him and setting about getting dressed.


	3. In Which Developments Are To Be Had

plot is real. steven is a nerdlord dweebcake never forget this.

im doing this im making this hapen

DOUBLE LENGTH CHAPTER just because i had no good cutoff points. after this, if im remembering correctly it should be all new stuff instead of replacement chapters? i think. maybe.

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><p>Riley rejoins Steven in the main room a couple minutes later, looking rather more alert. Moreso when Steven hands him a cup of coffee and gestures at the packs on the table as he does.<p>

"Everything's set up, more or less. If you're still good to go?"

Riley would have laughed if his mouth weren't full off coffee. Instead, he shakes his head. "Of course I'm going. It's my job, you can't officially go alone, and I'd hate to miss out should you find anything."

"I'm worried about you."

"There's no need to be."

"You had better be right about that."

But that doesn't stop Steven from casting the occasional concerned glance at Riley as the other man inspects what Steven's packed up for their adventure, occasionally making comments or going to fetch something and add it. Riley's Lucario joins Steven eventually, giving him a look of understanding and then moving his hand to her head so that she might get pets. "Nothing's going to happen," Steven says, more to himself than the Pokemon. Lucario nods anyways.

If nothing else, she will ensure that everything is fine. No one's getting hurt on her watch.

It's roughly noon before both Riley and Steven declare everything in acceptable state, grab packs and Pokemon, and set out to the cave system. The point of the expedition was mainly to see what was in the lower level tunnels, an area that Riley had only recently fixed the access elevator to, and see how far they went and what was down there. He personally felt more at ease exploring when he had someone with him, and Steven just likes going through new areas to see if there is anything geologically interesting down there. They make a good team.

Getting through the first few floors is no trouble at all, and it's accomplished in only a couple of hours. Four at the most. The trainers that practice around here have since learned that Riley is rarely a person they want to challenge (quiet around strangers as he may be, the man is an absolute terror to battle), and the grey haired guy who goes with him on occasion is even worse. The Pokemon around have learned the same, and many prefer to either act benevolently around their island's guardian or ignore him entirely. It works out nicely when they're trying to get somewhere in a hurry, and Steven and Riley end up at the previously defunct elevator with ease.

Steven walks around, inspecting it. "And it's good to carry our weight?"

"It can carry my Metagross, so I figured we should not be a problem. Though there's not working lights installed down there like there are up here. I added lamps to the bag, so-"

He's cut off by Steven abruptly turning to Riley with a excited grin and holding up a Pokeball. "I've got that covered." He tosses it, and a smallish Bronzor pops out with a chime.

"A Bronzor?"

"Yep! Caught it recently around here. Isn't it _cool_? Byron advised it." Steven pats the Pokemon happily and Riley can't help but laugh under his breath as Steven carries on about how cool Bronzor is. What a nerd.

"Anyways- here's why I caught it in the first place. C'mon." Steven takes Riley's hand and pulls him over to the elevator, Bronzor following behind them. Steven kicks the lever to move the elevator, and they descend into the shadows. The gloom hardly has time to get thicker before Steven says "Alright, close your eyes," and Bronzor sets out a flash of light that leaves red stars in both Steven's and Riley's vision. The light lessens in intensity afterwards, but there's still a glow that's equivalent to dusk lighting illuminating a large circle around the group. Riley can _feel_ how proud of himself and his Pokemon Steven is, it radiates off of his aura in dandelion-coloured waves. "Good job," he says to both of them. Bronzor chimes. Steven's smile widens.

Thankfully for Riley, Steven lets go of Riley's hand before he suddenly jumps off the elevator, saving Riley from most likely crashing into the floor. They haven't even completely reached the bottom yet and he's already off. Riley follows after, hardly unexcited himself. It's a completely new region of Iron Island, one he never had the chance to explore. Time for an adventure.

Riley keeps track of where they are on his Poketch, doing his best to sketch out a rough map as they go. It'll be easier to keep track and redraw it later, when he's back at the cabin. Steven, on the other hand, monitors the walls and ground carefully, often commenting on some interesting rock or formation that Riley absolutely must look at.

The thing Steven gets the most excited about is some small, pink crystals scattered sporadically about the cave walls. They first crop up about an hour into their walking, and Steven is absolutely enthralled.

He calls Riley over as he's crouched by a rock with about four of the pink growth emerging out of it, none of the crystals any larger than an inch long. They both kneel to inspect it, Bronzor floating like a balloon over their head. "Look, I've never seen anything quite like it. It looks like quartz, a little, but it's a weird shape." Steven passes the rock over to Riley, who prods at it. He's hardly a geologist, but he makes an attempt every so often. The crystals feel odd, and touching them causes a faint sense of tightness in his chest. Strange.

"Hey, is it just me, or does it look a bit like they're shining?" Riley asks, prodding at the rock.

"Hm? Maybe. Let's find out." Steven leans over his shoulder, gesturing from the Bronzor to dim its light.

It does, and the crystals are still visible, little pink dots that give off just enough light to be noticeable.

"_Cool_," is Riley's only scientific contribution to the discovery.

Steven pokes his cheek, doing his absolute best to keep from jumping in place like an overexcitable puppy. "Can I take some back? Please? I mean, if not I understand you're supposed to preserve the integrity of the island but _Riley please it's for science I have to have it_." His air is overloaded with enthusiasm, to the point where Riley has to put effort to keep it from sticking onto his aura and getting him unduly excited as well. He can't help but laugh, though. "Yes, you can keep one. _One_, though, and I'd better get a full analysis back." He grins lopsidedly, and Steven promptly hugs him with a loud expression of gratitude and an "Of course!"

At least he's easy to please, and Riley makes sure to carefully wrap the rock and place it in Steven's backpack.

Steven's mood hardly dampens by the time they have to set up something resembling a camp, and Riley's just accepted that it's contagious and let the cheer spread.

It's late, they know that much, but neither care enough to check the time. They're in a cave. Who cares, it's dark all the time. They're just going to eat something, sit around for a bit, and sleep. There's no need to bother with tents, though Steven sends out his Metagross and Riley his Lucario for the sake of safety from both wild Pokemon and alerts in the event of some disaster. Unlikely, but possible. Bronzor can dim its light, as Riley simply leaves a lamp out on a low setting.

Steven is the first to sleep, excusing himself from conversation with a loud yet accidental yawn and plopping down on his sleeping bag. He's out in a heartbeat.

Riley does his best to stay awake, as he doesn't wish a repeat of this morning. Surely just one night's worth of insomnia cannot be that hard, but he can hardly last another hour before he too is curled up, asleep despite the rocks underneath him jabbing his stomach when he shifts. Despite clinging to the sense of both Pokemon and Steven beside him, that feeling only lasts so long.

_He is in the same cave, but this time his is abandoned. It is lit enough to see, but there are no lights visible aside from the glowing aura surrounding the pink crystals in the wall. They bind him in place, but it is not unwelcome restraint. Riley knows he cannot walk toward the exit, and that no one is here. No humans, no Pokemon, nothing. As much as he may wander, he will always be stuck. This time, instead of fear it is the sense of overwhelming loneliness that surrounds him and seeps to clench between his ribs._

This time it is Lucario that manages to wake him, thankfully before anyone else rises. She leans against Riley and he hugs her tightly. The Pokemon's aura is comforting and he'll take what he can get here. By the time Steven gets up, Riley's scrubbed away any remaining emotion from his dream and set about handing over prepackaged breakfasts. They're only planning to spend one more day in the cave, may as well get going.

Bronzor lights itself back up as Riley extinguishes their lamp and they set off.

Riley hardly strays too far from Steven this time. He feels dizzy and exhausted, and the yellowish glow of his companion's aura is enough to concentrate on and keep him on his feet, awake. Lucario stands by him, keeping watch.

Steven, of course, notices something is amiss. He joins the 'keep an eye on Riley' brigade, though his efforts are somewhat less noticeable. He does his best to ensure the he stays within a few feet of Riley. You know, just in case. he doesn't know what would happen, Steven just knows that he both feels uneasy and wants to protect the man next to him.

"You know," he starts hesitantly, unsure where exactly he's trying to go with this. "You honestly don't seem in top form."

"I'm fine."

"Yes, I'm sure you will be. But, eh. You were mentioning your Lucario trying to shoo you off, and I still think vacations are good things and a change of scene might help."

"'M not going to a city." That fact Riley is adamant on.

Steven shakes his head. "Do you honestly think I'm going to dump you in someplace like Castiela and laugh? Give me _some_ credit. If you still feel like crap and don't entirely hate me by the time I'm to leave, I'm dragging you back to Mossdeep with me. You hardly ever come out there, anyways, and I feel bad for always crashing at your house." Steven's rambling, and he realizes it in time to snap his mouth shut without things getting too awkward. There's a brief pause before Riley speaks again.

"Mossdeep?"

"Yes, Mossdeep. There's not many people there, the area's nice, and it'd be nice to give my guest room some purpose in its existence. If your Lucario (and let's face it, myself as well) want you to learn the definition of a vacation, what's so bad about it?"

Riley shrugged. "I don't want to leave the island at risk for another Team Galactic fiasco."

"Riley, there's Trainers here daily who know the rules of the island probably as well as you do, and there's been _no_ reports of Galactic for month. Accept it. It'll be fun."

Riley grumbles, mostly just bitter about his Lucario finally winning her argument of getting him to go somewhere else, even if it was indirectly. "Fine."

Steven grins widely and considers his mission accomplished. He doesn't stop keeping an eye on Riley, he's just glad that he might have convinced him into do something helpful.

Concern for Riley doesn't stop Steven from keeping a running commentary on the stone formations, though. Not even remotely. They're heading northward, they can both tell that much, which means at least some of the island's systems must be subaquatic. How far it goes is an expedition for later. The pink crystals also accumulate the farther along the tunnel they go. It's not much, but the small stones definitely appear more frequently, and many of them are just slightly larger than the previous ones seen. Steven measures.

There are a few side tunnels, common for the style of cave excavation at the time, but many of them are caved in, and both Steven and Riley prefer to stay in the larger main tunnel for now. It doesn't curve much, just progresses steadily north.

Eventually, about halfway through the day, the tunnel stops. The path is blocked with a massive chasm, about ten feet across and seemingly deep. There are no offshoot passages nearby, and while they likely could cross the chasm on a Pokemon, the tunnel has collapsed in a rock slide only a few feet beyond it. It seems they'll have to go back, at the very least.

But the roadblock itself is something Steven deems interesting enough to inspect, and he trots over to it, peering downwards. Riley follows after, significantly more hesitant. Something around here doesn't resonate well, and the rock itself gives off an aura that makes him feel ill.

"Shame we got blocked off, but we can always take a second tunnel until it's time to go back. How deep do you think it is?"

"Don't know. You can try and toss something down there?" Riley's stepped over to the cave wall, leaning his weight against it. It's easier to do that than walk over an join Steven, especially when taking steps makes his head spin. Falling into a tunnel is not something he's very keen on.

"Riley-"

"I'm good, just. One second."

Steven sighs. If he says so. He directs most of his attention back to the cut in the rocks, flicking a pebble of the edge. All he gets in return is silence as the shadows quickly swallow up the rock. "Hm."

His Bronzor is acting upset as well, it stays nearby Steven but refuses to go any nearer to the chasm than a foot above its edge. The light from its Flash hardly penetrates the shadows at all, instead they just seem to swirl around and absorb it.

"Seems pretty dep."

"Yeah. I'll. Come back later and try to clear the tunnel out sometime."

Riley's voice sounds caught between strained and tired, and when Steven looks over, the man is sitting slumped against the wall, eyes shut and pale.

"Riley, are you-"

"Fine."

Steven moves to stand, to protest _no you obviously are not_ before something drags his attention back to the shadows. He doesn't know what, but he gets the distinct sense that something is there. The shadows move like exhales and someone wishes to speak to him.

The champion of Hoenn stares, wide-eyed and frozen in place.


	4. In Which Steven Frets

okay so if this is the first new chapter update you've gotten, all previous chapters have been replaced by now. (if you have not been following this story since like 2012 ur good to go have fun)

for everyone else, let's rock ever onwards

hah i went with the gameverse usage of escape ropes, which objectively make no sense in the real world but sssssssh otherwise the timespan of their trek would have been ridiculous and steven has no pokemon that use teleport.

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><p>Nothing reaches up and drags Steven down. In fact, nothing physical happens at all. The shadows simply continue to exists, though whatever part of Steven's head that is still functional notices that he can't see his Bronzor anymore. The light has faded to where the ground is just barely visible, and his hands tighten into fists. He's nervous, unspeakably so, and cannot tell why. Something announces its presence in a hesitant touch to his thought process, and Steven can neither move nor explain how he knows something is there.<p>

_'please leave'_, it tells him. '_ please leave i cannot help you_'.

Now there is no light, the Bronzor is gone entirely, and when Steven jerks his head upward, he can tell something is standing before him in the darkness. There is a faint glow from it, an icy colour that's hardly visible but not at all similar to the usual hallucinated dots when one is engulfed in cave darkness. The thing standing before him shakes its head (another thing Steven knows but does not know how. It just _is)_.

_i am so sorry_.

Steven reaches a hand up for the thing in the shadows. "It's okay."

He gets the sense of some strong regret that does not belong to him before the feeling of being near someone slowly fades away. Steven opens his eyes (when did he close them) to notice that he's still where he was, though the light from his Bronzor is back to normal, and the aforementioned Pokemon is nudging his shoulder with a few worried chimes. "It's alright," Steven says softly, reaching up to pat the Pokemon. It only seems marginally comforted, and still floats back and forth in nervous little loops. Steven gets the feeling that he is forgetting something.

He glances over and curses under his breath when he sees Riley slumped against the cave wall, curled in on himself and quite clearly either asleep or unconscious.

* * *

><p><em>Riley is hanging over the chasm, trying his best to scramble back onto the rock for a secure hold, but he gets nothing. Steven is there but his Pokemon are not, and Riley's silent calls for help are answered only with a shake of the head. His companion turns and walks away, leaving Riley to drop. This time the journey through the void is not endless, there are only a few minutes of blackness before he hits the ground.<em>

_Riley does not hit it gently, and the pain from where he slammed his shoulder in the ground prevents him from trying to look around. It hurts, it feels like he might have dislocated it. Riley grits his teeth and presses on the joint with his other hand. Ow. Son of a bitch. _

_As far as he can tell, he's lying in a shallow puddle, and it's not exactly pleasant to have muddy water try and get in his mouth. He sits up, after a fair amount of effort, shakes his head to get rid of spare muddy droplets, and looks around. He is not in a place he's ever seen before. It's a large clearing in the middle of a shadowy forest. The ground is just dirt where he is, in a large circle lacking trees. Riley looks down at himself. The suit is back, the one that makes him feel as if he's headed to a funeral. He's covered in mud splatter, but he appears unharmed. Or at least, not bleeding, as the pain from his shoulder reminds him. Riley sighs, and the fact that his exhale made _noise_ surprises him. He never makes noise. He speaks, just a test run of his throat, and is surprised when there's an audible mumble. Unusual. He stands, the action slightly more difficult when even moving his right arm send waves of pain down from his shoulder, and looks around. There's a clearing in the forest surrounding him, one appearing like a path. Riley walks toward it in the faint hopes that it will let him leave. He dislikes this place, calm as it may be. Admittedly, it's not the worst place to land, he just feels as if he doesn't belong here. As he approaches the opening, he can tell that there's people and Pokemon there. Byron and Lucario, at the very least, those he recognizes instantly. The others come into focus as he walks up. Roark, that Steel girl from Olivine who he's met a few times, Dawn, Lucas. All assorted people he's met and gotten along with at some point in his life. Some of their Pokemon and some of his mill around, though none of the group seems to notice he stands just at the entrance to the forest path, he can tell that they're milling about discussing something, though he cannot tell what. Byron, at least, is yelling about something, and seems the most agitated of the bunch. Riley cannot hear them, though, and that bothers him. He tries to walk over to them, but finds that there's some sort of barrier that keeps him stuck in the clearing. He presses his palms against it (as much as his shoulder tries to protest, this is an urgent matter), concentrating his aura in his hands and trying to force his way through. It does nothing. Riley's brows furrow and he drops his hands. "Hey!" _

_His shout also gets no attention, but he tries agains anyways. There's a minute of silence where Riley just watches, expression distraught, as his Lucario looks up from the group and finally acknowledges him. She tilts her head at her trainer and barks noiselessly. Dawn tries to pat her, but the Pokemon swats her hand off and turns away, shouldering her way through the group to the indistinct people standing at the fringes. All the others Riley can see, and those who are too in shadow to define seem to give up as well, turning and walking away._

_No. No, no no no nononono._

_They can't leave him here. They can't. He doesn't want to stay. No matter how loudly Riley yells and whose attention he tries to get, no one turns back. No one can hear him at all, except himself. Eventually he's forced to give up, and he slumps against the invisible barrier, breathing ragged._

_Why does that have to happen to him._

_What did he _do_._

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Steven panics. Nothing is waking Riley up. He's absolutely out like a light, no matter what Steven tries. Riley talks occasionally, muted but distressed murmurs, and that does nothing to make Steven worry any less.<p>

Nope, to hell with this. They're leaving. Executive decision. They've got escape ropes, Steven and Riley both made sure of that. But sadly for Steven, escape ropes can only take the two of them back to the elevator, the one they used to get down here in the first place. Steven grumbles. And Riley still doesn't seem to be keen on waking up, as much as Steven jostles him around and occasionally talks (mostly nonsense or stream of consciousness) to him. What a pain. He drags Riley onto the steel platform and holds him up as he flips the switch to move them up. Thankfully, that hasn't broken. There's the little good things, though it hardly makes Steven feel any better. Once they get to the top, he can feel more comfortable calling out his Metagross. Steven thanks his Bronzor for its assistance in the cave system and sends it back to its pokeball. Metagross' turn.

"Hold still, okay? I need a favour. Can you carry him? We need to get out of here." Metagross agrees. With effort and compliance from his Pokemon, Steven hoists Riley on top of the Metagross. Steven hops off and walks next to Metagross, leading it out. He walks quickly, and what few trainers that bother to say hello to him and otherwise try to start a conversation are met only by terse monosyllables and a wave goodbye. They make much quicker time out of the cave than in, but Riley still hasn't stirred by the time they return to the cabin.

Riley gets dragged back off the Metagross on his doorstep, as the Pokemon is too large to bring inside, and Steven does his best (mostly failing) to carry Riley back inside with proper decorum. He gets plopped against a couch.

Steven crouches in front of the prone trainer, staring and twisting a ring anxiously. Riley's at least stopped mumbling, but he's unsure if that's good or bad. Motion directs Steven's eye to the few pokeballs on Riley's belt, one of which is twitching. He watches, and a few seconds later it bursts open, Lucario standing in the aftermath of the red light. She brushes nonexistent dust off her armfur and barks at Steven in a professional sounding manner.

It's not often that he sees Pokemon force their own way out of their pokeballs, but he also can't say he's surprised. Extenuating circumstance and all that. Lucario gestures for him to back away and Steven obliges, taking a few steps backwards. Lucario chuffs with obvious irritation at Riley's prone form. She holds out a palm, and in a blink there's a swirling blue mass of aura around her hand.

She barks again, firmly this time.

"Hey, wait-!" Steven tries to step forward, but he gets halfway through before the bauble of aura is slung at Riley, catching him in the side and sending the trainer flying a few feet to land in a slump a couple feet away. Lucario crosses her arms with a more muted bark, ears once more pricked in Riley's direction.

Riley stirs, clutching his arms around himself.

Steven breaks out of his surprise and runs over, grabbing Riley's shirt and hauling him into somewhat of a standing position.

"_Riley!_"


	5. In Which Things Are Discussed, Kind Of

i am so so sorry if the coding of this one is messing up again, I have no idea why is deciding to ruin the html of my documents.  
>anyways yes i was considering making this chapter horribly depressing but then figured i might as well give you some dweeby nerdbabies instead.<p>

Riley's awake, it was sort of difficult not to be after getting chucked across a room by a Pokemon. He groans a low "ooooowwww," and blearily pokes at his side. That'll be a bruise. He's currently too out of it to process why he's being half-held-up by his upper arms, and Steven is too busy caught in an endless list of things he wants to say and can't figure out where to start. Riley blinks himself into enough cognitive function to get past 'why do I hurt' and move into 'what is holding my arm'. He looks up. Oh. Hello, Steven.

The fact that Riley is _not_ alone right now, that he wasn't left off in some Godforsaken corner of the world, makes him stupidly and sleepily happy, and he's not thinking too hard as he promptly pulls Steven into a hug.

Steven is still supporting most of Riley's weight and still stunned. He takes a few seconds, but eventually pats Riley's head, remembers why they're here, and then pulls the other male off of him. Riley appears both somewhat disappointed and disoriented as Steven holds him at arm's length, face flushed.

"Do you have _any_ idea what just happened? What the hell were you doing? We had to drag you back here," Steven continues on rambling at Riley, more stressed than actually angry. Riley keeps zoning out throughout Steven's speech. Concentration is difficult right now, but what he does catch doesn't really make him any happier. Riley slowly slumps forward, head bowed.

"'M sorry."

"You-. What?"

"I'm sorry." Riley's voice is muted, but at least he's looking Steven in the eye. (And that, in the end, is what makes Steven wilt). Steven lets go of Riley, dropping his hands and looking off at the ground.

"Yeah. I'm. It's okay. And I really shouldn't have gotten mad and you. Sorry. _Arceus_, Riley, you're scaring me."

Riley shifts his weight around uncomfortably. "I'm not exactly trying to."

"I know you're not. I'm not blaming you. Honestly."

There's a pause, during which Riley relaxes. H's not annoyed or anything similar. Mostly he's just tired. There's not a lot of room for extraneous emotions when he feels like he's still about to keel over. He looks over at Lucario, who just folds her ears and looks away, self-conscious. "It's okay," he tells her quietly. He's not particularly mad at her for what he presumes is causing the large forming bruise on his side.

Steven, once again, is the first to break the quiet. "Though I'm still kidnapping you back to Mossdeep." There is no escape, or at least he refuses to allow one. Byron wouldn't mind at all and he's the only one who could possibly have a say otherwise in that arrangement.

Luckily for Steven, Riley hardly bothers to protest. He just laughs mutedly at the phrasing and agrees. What he wasn't expecting is for Steven to clap him on the shoulder and shove him off toward his own room.

"Then get some stuff, I really wasn't kidding about the hauling you off thing."

Riley stumbles off and Lucario takes this as her cue to follow after him, mostly to make sure everything is done to her standards and Riley absolutely does not forget her pokeball. As if he would.

Steven watches, only turning away when he's satisfied Riley's good and he can go sort his own stuff out. Steven sighs, tapping the flat of his fingernail against one of his rings. He just hopes that what he's doing will actually turn out slightly helpful instead of just things continuing to become progressively more terrible.  
>He'll have to email Cynthia once he gets home.<p>

Many hours later and with the combined efforts of Skarmory and a boat, Steven and Riley get halfway to Hoenn, and end up plopped in an altogether mediocre motel room around midnight. Neither are particularly used to motels, considering Riley hardly ever leaves the island and Steven just sleeps on routes when he's adventuring on foot because that's where he'll happen to be when night falls.  
>But hey, mostly cheap and entirely not-sketchy lodging for the night, they're good to go. It's late by now, and Riley's sitting cross-legged on the bed he claimed, poking at the mattress. Steven's on his own, ill-fitting Skarmory somehow managing to plop his head in Steven's lap. Riley appears more or less awake for once, considering Steven kept having to check to make sure he wasn't going to pass out in midair.<p>

"Can I sleep here," Riley pipes up.

"... Yes, that is sort of what the bed is here for. Sleeping. That's what you _do_ on a bed, Ri."

Riley snorts and chucks a pillow at Steven, who deflects it harmlessly to the ground.

"You know what I meant, jerk."

"Wow, call me names again and I'll be so hurt that I'll just fly off without you. But yes, and I'm waking you up at seven."

Cue a loud groan from Riley as he flops backwards. Lucario looks up from where she was sleeping at the foot of the bed, somewhat displeased at having been woken up by the motion. "I'm sure you'll live through the scathing blow that is my insults. Don't fly off without me." He ends in a whine, closing his eyes.

"I'll put some thought into remembering to carry you along."

Riley's next reply is honestly meant to be intelligible, but ends up being a sleepy slur of syllables, and Steven gives up trying to decode it. He reaches over and throws Riley's previously weaponized pillow back at him. It bounces off his face. "At least sleep properly, jeez."

His threat goes unheard and unheeded, to no one's surprise at all. After a few minutes, Riley's breathing evens and he's out.

Steven stays up, petting Skarmory and keeping an eye on Riley until he dozes off himself, still curled awkwardly over the bird.

_Riley dreams but it is not a nightmare. This time he is simply sitting in a distinctly old-fashioned yet very well furnished room. He is on one armchair, and there is a different chair directly opposing him that he is... also sitting in._

_Or some other version of himself. He knows the difference, the Riley that is not Riley seems to glow slightly around their eyes, though that does not stop the shadows from dancing around their feet. They sit in a manner that is both professional and unworried; leaned back and gazing calmly at Riley._

_Riley cocks his head at his doppelgänger, and gets only an apologetic smile in return._

_"You found me. Though I'm afraid I can't help you out much," the Not-Riley says._

_"Then why do this?" Riley asks._

_"I don't know. Call it a whim. A slight form of apology." The other one picks idly at the knee of their pants. "I apologize if borrowing your face unnerves you, but it is one of the only human faces I have a full grasp on copying."_

_"I. Suppose it's okay." Though it did make Riley slightly uncomfortable, it could be worse. "Then what are you exactly?"_

_The other Riley laughs hollowly. "I forget what I am called in human tongues, I'm afraid. Though I do know you will make choices for the best." They stand up, dusting nonexistent dust off their palms before they step over to Riley and place a hand over his forehead in what could be considered a comforting gesture if it weren't performed by a slightly-off copy. The shadows follow them, reluctant to let darkened claws off of their legs. "You'll be fine, as will I, and I am glad for that."_

_Riley simply nods, and then he and the other one go back to sitting in a peaceful but somewhat hesitant silence._

The alarm clock in the table beeping persistently and with a particularly irritating tone. Steven swats blearily at it, missing it beautifully at all attempts. When he sits up, it's with a particularly discomforted mutter. Sleeping practically folded over oneself on top of a giant metal bird is never a good position to wake up from. The alarm finally gets shut off, and Steven looks over to Riley, who's curled up, face smooshed against Lucario's side and arm thrown over his eyes to block out sunlight.

Steven mutters and tosses his pillow at him, to which Riley responds with a muffled "_Mnuh._"

That, at least, lets Steven feel somewhat more relieved. We are functional (barely) and present. He stands up, nudging Skarmory's head out of the way and stretching before he walks over to Riley and removes his arm from his face.

"Rise and shine, the world says hello."

Riley glares sleepily. "The world can give me five more minutes." He does his best to roll over and resume hiding his face in Lucario's fur, which fails beautifully when Steven just shoves him back over. Damn it Steven. For the first time in months, Riley actually feels as if he's slept once he's woken up, and it's such a nice feeling. But giving up doesn't seem to be on Steven itinerary for the day, so Riley puts forth the effort needed to sit up. He's rewarded by a bright grin from Steven, and he briefly wonders how anyone can be so chipper right after they've woken up. Possibly black magic?

Steven continues to be chipper in Riley's general direction, but at least has the grace to give him a break while they return Pokemon to pokeballs and get somewhat properly dressed.

Steven taps Riley's forehead and Riley mock-attempts to bite his finger.

"Funnily enough, it doesn't strike me that you're a fan of mornings."

"Sleep schedules are hard. And nobody understands, Steven."

Steven laughs. "If it makes you feel better, I'll get you caffeine before we go. And we'll be in Mossdeep by. Eeeeh, four."

A pause, as he considers. "Acceptable."

Steven pats Riley's shoulder and they're off in twenty minutes.


	6. In Which Riley Experiences Side Effects

welcome to part two of the story, which i have dubbed the Atipamezole section. (the first section is dexmedetomidine should anyone be wondering). please tolerate the brief appearance of an OC. riley just has to start getting some more clues, whoops. sorry this took 30 years to upload, mel, and sorry its really lackluster? my problem with longfics is i get too concerned about plot and not "i started this epic trying to get two characters to be very homo and so far all thats happened is steven has a crush that he just manifests with protectiveness". eventually... _real _ship chapters.. eventually...i promise..

* * *

><p>Practically the entire concept of Hoenn is a novelty to Riley- tropical areas? Islands father away than a few kilometers from the mainland that aren't made of rocky outcrops? <em>Warm water in the middle of March<em>? Absolutely ridiculous.

They landed for an extended amount of time in Lillycove. Steven being Steven, he manages to be in the town for a grand total of twenty minutes before he shouts a "hello!" at someone wandering about the streets. Steven waves exuberantly and glances over at Riley. "I found a friend."

"I noticed," Riley says, complete with a laugh.

The person Steven was waving to trots over, turning out to be a youngish woman with a Masquerain flitting about around her head. "Hi, it's been ages. Who's this? Where you from, hat guy?"

Riley introduces himself and the woman informs him that her name is Rana. From there it more or less goes into lively chatting with Steven - Riley's not too practiced with proper socialization and the blobs of aura from all the people wandering the city make him slightly more distracted than usual. Not that Steven doesn't drag him into being a contributor to conversation.

It turns out Rana owns a speedboat and is more than happy to ferry them to Mossdeep in exchange for someone paying to replace her gas, a duty for which Riley volunteers himself. Setting up takes a grand total of twenty minutes and they're off, Riley and Lucario hanging around the back of the boat and already enthused about Hoenn's oceans before they're out of sight of Slateport Harbor. Rana's let out a Milotic to swim along nearby. Lucario barks at it occasionally, as well as at some aquatic Pokemon they see- the water's clear and so full of _stuff_, a complete contrast to the water around Canalave, which is generally cold and hosts little visible diversity. Riley interests himself with novelties: Pokemon he's not familiar with, new ocean, and the like.

Steven stays near the wheel for a while, catching up with his friend, as well as briefly going over why he has a companion with him, for once. It's hardly usual. Once Rana has been appeased, Steven feels free to interrupt the man and his dog currently leaning over the railings of the ship.

"As you can see, it's much less dreary than Sinnoh. Also, keep leaning over so far and you're going to fall in."

"Sinnoh's great, and I am _not_." Riley looks over his shoulder at Steven with a huff, but he can only manage to hold a pout for about three seconds before he gestures out over the water, where a few meters away a couple of yellow, spiked fins poke out of the water. "I found fish."

"Congratulations, Riley, it's Carvanha. They're kind of not the nicest things out here, though." Steven takes a spot next to Riley, looking over the spray from the boat. Lucario keeps sticking her nose in it, apparently on accident, but doesn't seem to mind much.

"If I try hard enough, I can feel some of the Pokemon around here. In the water."

Steven looks over at Riley, expression slightly surprised. "You can? I thought your aura thing was mostly just people and," he gestures at Lucario, "those guys."

"It was, but. Usually I could faintly read Pokemon, if they were close. But I don't know, I just feel like I've been getting better at it lately. And now finding Pokemon aura is a lot easier."

"Huh. Well, with any luck, you'll also be better at blocking out people's aura and not get overwhelmed by the noise and freeze in the middle of a city street. Again." Steven snickers, and Riley swats him in the arm.

"Rude." Though it's not as if Riley doesn't agree with the teasing. He resumes looking out at the water, commenting any time they pass over a particularly large group of fish.

Until they pass near a particularly dark patch of water off to the right and Riley suddenly stands up, expression a combination of alarmed and bewildered. "What- What is _over there_?" It's this small grouping of people, he can tell. Like a small town, only there _is_ no small town. There's some rocks, and there's some particularly deep water, and there's the definite sense of people down there. More than any reasonable group of divers. Riley glances between Steven and Rana, the latter of whom decided to bend over the wheel, giggling.

"That's Sootopolis, silly."

Steven clarifies, considering the name of the anomaly does not help Riley at all. "It's an underwater city. They live in this weird little air pocket. Geologically fascinating, weird to come across unexpected."

Riley stares over at the deep water. "Weird is right." And now he just wants to go investigate. He concludes that he'll bring it up later and resumes experimenting with how far away he can sense something until it's Steven's turn to jump up and walk to the front of the ship.

Mossdeep rises over the horizon like mist. It's surrounded by rocks and that is what it seems like at first, another vaguely defined piece of stone smacked in the middle of the ocean. As the boat approaches it takes shape. The tower of the Space Center is definable first, then buildings sort themselves into appearing and soon enough the entire island is definable. The boat has to pull to a stop not particularly close to shore, as the sand a submerged rock close to Mossdeep make the water too short to bring the boat through easily.

That does not at all deter Steven, as he just hops over the side railing of the boat and splashes loudly into the sandbank, water coming up to about mid-calf. He grins brightly and holds his arms out to gesture at the island behind him.

"We have arrived."

Mossdeep is a large city considering its location and the ease with which it could flood. It's still not large, but it's not limited to three houses and the Space Center by any means. Buildings emerge from behind mangroves edging the landmass. The Center, of course, stretches over them all and stands as a notifier to ships in the distance that Mossdeep exists. The shallows outside the island feature tiny curious fish, flitting around Steven's ankles to investigate. Riley jumps into the shallows more hesitantly, sloshing around entirely unfamiliar with the landscape. The motorboat starts up again and the group waves Rana off.

Steven sets off toward the stairs leading from the beach to the island proper when he abruptly realizes Riley is no longer behind him. He turns, and Riley is staring with a wide grin at the water around his feet. Lucario splashes enthusiastically next to him.

"Riley, we're.. what're you doing?"

"_Look_, there's little Remoraids. There's so many…." He trails off, sloshing vaguely and sending the tiny silver fish in surprised circles.

This is the second time Steven's laughed at Riley's enthusiasm over novelties. It's… definitely endearing. That's a good phrase for it. "Yeah, I guess Canalve isn't really a good place for beaches, huh? But c'mon, we should probably put your stuff in the house, first."

Riley sighs dramatically, though his expression is still too happy for indicating disappointment. It's probably the best he's felt in months. Things are new, his friend is happy, and not everything feels like he's wading through mud to get anywhere. It's a nice change and he's allowed his happiness over it. He adjusts the backpack he's got on and follows after Steven (still keeping an eye on the aquatic life and the Lucario that's prancing about after them).

Steven leads the troupe to a cottage near the west coastline, sitting off to the side. It looks very unassuming. Until Steven opens the door and reveals that a ridiculous amount of area is taken up by a rock collection. All carefully labelled and the ones Riley assumes are the favourites in their own glass containers. Yup, definitely the house of Steven Stone.

"Welcome to, uhm… your temporary home for a while, I suppose." Sounds good enough. Steven gestures Riley to enter with a flourish. He does.

"Thank you. Nice stone collection, I expected nothing less."

Steven shuts the door behind him and spends a few seconds eyeing the intrior fondly. Everything's clean and nothing's off. Excellent. He deposits his bag on the couch and gestures for Riley to do the same. He does, but shortly after makes a quiet "oh!" and starts riffling through the backpack.

Steven leans over his shoulder curiously. "What is it?"

"I remembered, I brought the— _ow!_" The exclamation is more of surprise than pain, and Riley yanks his hand back from the bag. Steven reacts immediately, stepping closer to Riley's side where he can see. No blood, at least?  
>"What is it? Are you alright?"<p>

"Yeah, I. I thought I grabbed what i was looking for, but something in there _burns_." Riley sounds curious (and somewhat miffed) which leads Steven to figure he's probably alright. But it's a very weird sentence.

"Burns? Here, let me see?"

"Nah, I got it." Riley reaches back into the bag, and within a couple of seconds he once again hisses in pain. He's not deterred, however, mostly because he wants to find out _why_ things hurt. He procures from the pocket a rock, covered in crystals. He's holding it carefully, touching only the containing rock and not the pinkish crystals growing from it. "There we are. I figured I'd bring it since you wanted to look at it, but I don't know why it's suddenly become some kind of heat sink."

Steven peers at it curiously, then reaches out and pokes one of the crystals before Riley can move it away. "It doesn't feel like anything to me." He takes it from Riley's hand and holds the conglomerate normally. Nope, no sense of heat or anything. No more so than a rock would naturally accumulate, anyways.

"What?" There's no way. It was hot seconds ago, all sharp and burning to the touch. Like Riley touched a spark. Even when he tries to get close again to see if maybe it was just a brief effect, no, he has to draw his hand back before actually tapping the crystal. Riley looks at the rock, then back at Steven, brows furrowed. "Somehow I think this doesn't mean anything very good."

Steven looks equally concerned. "Somehow I think talking to Cynthia is definitely a good idea."


	7. In Which There Is Finally Exposition

i got an alert someone followed this and was like 'o damn im so sorry i havent written anything abt these gays in like 12 years'.  
>also i just realized ive been writing this fic for 3 years and im still just barely halfway done i. am so sorry that i cannot do this any faster.<br>dont u just love chapters that are just a billion lines of dialogue b/c ur in a expository skype call?no. to make up for it have what could almost count as an ill-described date, if you squint, first. this chap would be longer but its already like 2k so i spared myself.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for Riley and Steven, Cynthia is not easily accessible. Well, she is, though only over text and only for brief stretches at a time, which Steven finds generally inconvenient. This is a messy matter and both Steven and Riley are unfortunately bad at dealing with large issues over text. Video calling Cynthia would be the ideal method, but that requires a tad more effort. Apparently there's some new Trainer vying for their Sinnoh League recognition and Cynthia is quite preoccupied watching her Elites and the visitor battle it out. Instead of concise messages, Cynthia is repeatedly pestered over text until she replies with at time when she'll be able to sit down and do a video chat, which would be sometime around midnight in Mossdeep's time. Part of her wants to tell the two messaging her to shut up and wait, but that fact that it's Steven and Riley, notorious avoiders of technology, trying to get along of her makes the Sinnoh champion a bit more lenient, considering they must have a good reason for urgency.<p>

Steven grumbles about this regardless. What an inconvenient time for the Sinnoh elites have to deal with a challenger. Riley doesn't mind one way or the other; this gives him as much free time as he likes to wander about Mossdeep with Lucario and Steven. Steven isn't given a say in the matter, he's just told "well, if there's no other innocents you want to irritate, come walk with me and stop worrying" and gently tugged out the door.

As with any place Riley has not been before (and many places that he has), he has the pervasive urge to explore as much as possible. Not even the vague dizziness and fatigue that came back after his brief respite can keep him from wanting to wander. Besides, he's got Steven by the hand should something actually happen. (And to narrate where they're walking and how mangroves work, because Riley has no clue.)

Lucario quite likes the mangroves lining Mossdeep, and she manages to distance herself from protectively flanking Riley's heels in order to play tag with herself among the shallow water and roots. The feeling of actually taking a break from everything that's been happening is incredibly welcome, as is the idea that Riley might actually manage to fix himself up. He doesn't really know how that would happen, and is still hesitant to admit aloud that something's wrong and it scares him, but he's going to take the small positive of believing things will definitely turn out fine. Riley relaxes and does his best to make Steven do so as well. While Riley doesn't really like reading people's aura without permission, sometimes he catches Steven's from the corner of his eye, and on occasion he can see daubs of concern-azure interfering with the usual thistle-purple of the former champion's aura. Though sometimes there's other little flecks of sunrise colours, positive ones, and those, if anything, are what Riley's trying to encourage in Steven's mood.

Riley doesn't let go of Steven's hand throughout their about two hour long jaunt unless he absolutely has to for whatever reason. Steven's warm and Riley figures that if the feeling of some other trusted human being next to him makes him feel slightly less like a tired, mildly anxious wreck, maybe it'll work to reassure Steven that Riley's not going to abruptly vanish or keel over.

It does. Steven appreciates contact more than he chooses to say or think about too much. Instead, he points out Shoal Cave in the distance once it's visible, talks about the Space Center, the fantastic young kinds running the Gym, really anything he can think of so Riley at least knows Mossdeep on a superficial level. It's Steven's home and he both loves it and is very happy to show it off.

Maybe if Riley likes the island as much as Steven does he'll have an extra layer of motivation in the future to actually visit for once. Once this whole mess is wrapped up and they don't have it to worry about.

They're forced to return back to Steven's house about an hour after it gets dark.

After that, it's mostly just a matter of milling around until it's time for Cynthia to call. Riley occupies himself with dumping his personal items in the spare room. Steven was right, it had quite apparently not been touched in quite a while. Steven's somewhat sheepish over it, which Riley completely brushes off. It's still quite a lot nicer than Iron Island's room. He appreciates it.

Around 11:30, Steven starts fiddling with a laptop he procured from some drawer somewhere, Riley doesn't know. It's a fairly outdated device, and Steven's unfamiliarity with it ends in him perched on the couch, clicking semi-randomly and irritatedly at settings controls. Riley's next to him being of no use whatsoever. He actually has very little idea how any sort of technology works, and is content to watch bemusedly as Steven attempts to resurrect the laptop he hasn't touched in at least a year. He gets it working before missing schedule, thankfully.

Cynthia's face occupies the screen not five minutes later. Riley leans over and waves at her happily.

"Hello again," she opens with. "What's Steven worked up over?"

Steven pushes Riley's head out of the way so that Cynthia can actually see him. "Something broke Riley and it keeps getting continually weirder."

Here Riley interjects with something along the lines of 'I'm not _broken_'. Steven continues on his explanation.

"Seems more like the weirdness that happens when powerful pokemon are running around, so I thought I would ask you as opposed to just leaving him comatose on Iron Island."

Cynthia shows marked concern at that, staring with brows furrowed at the pixellated image of Riley on her computer screen. "You are telling me that one of my friends is.. inexplicably going into comas?"

"No," Riley interjects, "I'm not unconscious. It's just being, ah." What's the best way to phrase this that will minimize Cynthia's concern. "Prone to falling asleep and being difficult to wake up."

"_Riley Maris!" _Both Steven and Riley are very taken aback by how perfectly Cynthia captures the tone of outraged mother. They pale. She reddens, annoyed. "You have lived in Canalave for _how long_ and you still don't know about this kind of thing? A kid nearly died two years ago with that exact same description." She tells the two to hold still as she excuses herself to go find something in her bookshelves. Both Steven and Riley knowing Cynthia's bookshelves and organizational systems, this could last anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. In the interim, Steven and Riley whisper at one another.

"What is she talking about, a kid dying?"

"I don't know, I don't get told about stuff like that."

"Regardless, now you have two people yelling at you that this is bad, are you still going to try and play yourself off as perfectly fine?"

"It's not _that_ bad!"

They continue bickering back and forth in whispers, preoccupied enough with this activity to not notice Cynthia's return. She watches them, vaguely confused. The microphone isn't good enough to pickup what they're talking about, but they seem very into this discussion, and could probably use a reminder in what personal space is.

"A-hem." No one notices her. She tries again. "Excuse me, I can't actually hear if you're discussing anything important, but I'm back."

The fact that the response Steven and Riley give her is various stuttered excuses is evidence that no, it was probably not an important discussion. Cynthia holds a newspaper clipping up to her webcam. It's too grainy to be easily read, but there is a clear enough picture of a young kid sitting in a bed, with an older girl standing next to him looking disinterested. Riley blinks a few times and leans closer to the monitor. The girl looks familiar. "Is that miss Dawn?"

Cynthia nods. "Correct, this was about a month after the major incident with Galactic. Long story short, a boy in Canalave fell asleep and his family couldn't get him to wake up for over a day. Dawn was in town and said she'd help, when asked the family said someone had told her to go to some islands north of Canalave and find a feather from Cresselia."

Throughout the story, Riley's expression had best been described as one of concerned interest, but at the mention of the name '_Cresselia_', it switches to mild alarm. He leans back slightly as if spooked. Cynthia doesn't notice, but Steven looks over him with eyebrows raised inquisitively. At the lack of reply, Steven just lightly knocks his shoulder against Riley's. A reminder: We're here, you're fine.

"And from what _else_ I got from this event, this has happened before, every couple of decades, to people who spend too long up north in Canalave." Cynthia looks up, eyeing Riley. "You know, like _you_ do. Hm, I never thought it might affect you, though…." She trails off, her turn to mutter to herself before voicing up again. "Every time it comes up, there's mention of something called Darkrai (that I assume is a pokemon) linked with it, but nobody ever specifies that. Even in the older stories…."

Steven pipes up again. "So you're saying that all we need to do is find where Cresselia lives and get a feather? That can't be that hard." Riley twitches again. He doesn't know why the talk about this is starting to make him very anxious, but here he is.

"There's that, but I'm not positive it would solve it. I don't know how it works. Is there anything else that's weird?"

Riley knows there's something he's forgetting, he just can't recall it right now. Things are getting increasingly staticky in his head and he feels very worried over nothing in particular. Steven, at least, is unaffected by the greyish waves of anxiety curling off of Riley's aura. "Ah! Yes. Mystery rock." Not a mystery for long if Steven has his way, which he undoubtedly will. He turns around and leans over the back of the couch to lift the stone he's conveniently placed on the table behind them.

"Why is this rock a mystery?" Cynthia asks. Steven Stone, not knowing something about stones? Mark her down as incredulous. And very intrigued.

"Because if Riley touches the crystals, it hurts. Yes?" He looks up at Riley for verification. Riley just nods distractedly. Alright then, Steven will allow him slipping into being nonverbal again, that's fine. "And they don't look like the kind of crystal formation I'd expect. They seem to luminesce in cave-darkness," Steven prattles on, probably giving a bit too much detail about the rock and Cynthia flips through a worn-looking book on her lap. This it so be expected from an enthusiastic geologist, but Cynthia has to cut him short. Not only is it not entirely useful information, it's late and she can only do this for so long before she starts yawning.

"I'm sure the geological implications are fascinating, but I'm not really sure. There's something I recall mentioned a few times about how Cresselia would manifest her power in a physical form to 'keep away nightmares' or something, and imbue her power in the land itself, so maybe it's a little bit like a lunar wing, only I don't know if it would work the same." Or even if that was remotely true, but it's the closest Cynthia can approximate from her collection of mythos, and since mythos seems to be a highly applicable topic, she'll take it. She closes the book with an ill-disguised yawn. "Steven, I'll photocopy anything relevant and email them to you tonight, okay? And if _anything_ changes or when Riley comes back, I expect to be notified. No one's going comatose on my watch. Riley, I'd say get some sleep because you look half dead, but I really don't know if that's the most tactful thing to advise right now." Cynthia gives them a final appraising stare before sighing and giving a proper goodbye. Steven and Riley reciprocate, and the camera cuts out.

Cynthia sighs. She really is quite worried about what Riley's gotten himself into now, but at least he's got someone on his side. The Sinnoh champion doubts she'd have to step in at this point considering what Steven has already done and how determined he seems to be, but still. Illogical though her concern may be, she's going to worry about her friend's health now that it's been brought up. The best thing she can do about it now is send anything relevant to Steven. Inhale, pause, exhale. Alright. Time to start up the scanner.


End file.
